Chicken Tocino! Tender, juicy, and sweet. Everything you love about tocino is here and it almost tastes like pork. Made of chicken thighs cured in an all-natural sweet and fruity marinade. Perfect for breakfast, lunch, or dinner served TOCILOG style!
Place chicken in a bowl. Add salt and brown sugar. Massage chicken with the seasoning until all sides are covered. Set aside for 5 to 10 mins.
Combine all the marinade ingredients in a bowl or in the container where you’re going to marinate the chicken. Stir until well combined.
Add the chicken to the bowl and massage with the marinade. Cover tightly and marinate for 4 hours or overnight in the refrigerator. You can also use a zip bag for compact storage. Double wrap with a regular plastic bag just to make sure it doesn’t contaminate other food in your fridge.
To cook
Place chicken in a frying pan. Pour 1 cup water. You can include the marinade for a sweeter tocino or discard it.
Boil chicken until tender. Let the water completely evaporate. Reduce the heat then add 1 tbsp of oil. Gentle fry the tocino for 2 to 4 minutes on each side until brown.
Serve with rice and egg. Enjoy!
Notes
Salt - use sea salt or kosher salt. Do not use iodized or table salt.
If the pan and oil end up being too hot and smoking, turn off the heat and let it cool for a few minutes.'
Don’t overcrowd the pan. Make sure to cook a few pieces in batches to prevent the pan from becoming watery.
Annatto powder is a natural food coloring that adds an "orange-ish" color to the chicken. It can be found online and some Filipino stores.
Mirin is a sweet alcohol-based Japanese condiment commonly use for making teriyaki dishes. It's included in this recipe to substitute anisette liqueur. Mirin is available in many Asian stores, the international section of supermarkets, and online.